Hannah Montana: Revealed
by Thor2000
Summary: Sequel to HM: Opportunity and HM: Secret Identity continuing Miley's feud with Jesse Samms and his love with Lily, so you have to have read those to understand this one.
1. Chapter 1

The scene was the Los Angeles Auditorium, and the audience was packed as America chose its next _American Idol_. The handsome blonde host had his make-up checked and the judges briefly departed to stretch their feet. One of them signed autographs for his fans, the former female pop idol of the group was getting her looks prepped again and the sometimes caustic British idol was talking on his cell phone while waiting on his co-stars. Out of the top twelve, nine had been eliminated. The person kicked off tonight would be singing with the boyishly handsome Idol favorite this year. Would it be the sexy young lady with the tight dress and ample cleavage or the tall roguishly good-looking rocker with the brown hair? It could just might be two guys in the end. Before revealing the results of the often suspiciously manipulated results, there would be a musical star to amp up the anxiety. Back stage, the girl known to the world under the name of Hannah Montana was looking at her father in a big fake mustache.

"Wow, I can't believe I'm doing Idol." Hannah cheered for herself.

"Yeah," Robby Ray Stewart, a former country star himself, prompted his daughter. "It seems to me that three years ago I recall you in another talent contest in Nashville launching you as Hannah." He flashed on his girl's big start. "I've been so proud of you ever since, bud."

"Thanks, dad…" Hannah hugged her dad while a stage manager came up to her.

"Ryan will introduce you in five minutes, Mrs. Montana." She replied as another girl touched up Hannah. "Can you find your mark?"

"Sure."

"And don't worry about the mean British judge on the end." Robby assayed his daughter's fears away. "His bark is worth than his bite. Plus, if he says anything, I'll be out there!"

"Daddy…" She lightly scolded her father against embarrassing her. "I'm not getting that close to him." Hannah rushed to her mark behind a large assembly of gears and motors. She took a deep breath, looked upon a monitor as the seconds were counted down. The celebrity judges rushed to their chairs. The show started and the introduction began. The audience roared like a hurricane. The sound was deafening. It was like point break before a hurricane of sound.

"Our guest this night has sold over one billion albums in just under three years, breaking old records set by Madonna." The host started off with the audience screaming even louder. "She's consistently at the top of the charts, she has worked with Jesse McCarthy and Christina Aguilera and has acted in TV as well. She's America's sweetheart! She's… Hannah Montana!" The location roared even louder and the roof trembled from the repercussions of sound. A twenty-foot high screen parted in two pieces as the petite pop star marched out waving to her fans, to the rejected and waiting Idol contestants and to the TV cameras. In the audience, Constantine Maroulis cheered the cute little pop star and a few rows before him, Reese Witherspoon waved to Hannah. Robert Downey Jr. was a few rows behind the judges, and a few more ahead of Jessica Simpson. The cast of _Ghost Hunters_ and their families filled the first three rows of a section of balcony seats along with horror writer William Collins and his family. It was a star-studded and packed audience for the young pop star. Hannah looked to the band; a few of her regular musicians were sitting in with them. The music started…

"Tell me the world is not living up to what you wanted it to be…" Hannah started singing a new song. "Did you think it would always be the same for only you…."

"You know that British judge only pretends to be mean." Another voice distracted Robby from his daughter's performance as he turned. By his left side, Connie Samms, a promoter from Hannah's record label, beamed and caught his interest. She was a busty yet athletic beauty of British descent herself. She was also a good friend. Robby hugged her upon sight, and she kissed him platonically on his cheek. They had known each other for years.

"How you doing, Connie?" Robbie looked her over. "How's that boy of yours? He still selling Hannah stuff?"

"If he is, he's not getting it from me." She posed a bit and tiredly pulled a file to her chest. "After he was busted for selling term papers, I really lowered the boom on him." She paused looking out at Hannah singing to the British judge at the end. "But he's changed a lot, Robby… I'm really worried about him. He's been moody."

"You want me to talk to him?" Robby folded up his hands. "It could be a guy thing."

"I'd like that." Connie tucked out of habit at her ear. "Speaking of which, Robby…" Connie cut to the point, her British accent resonating on her words. "I need you to take care of him for a while. My mom's sick, really sick…" She took a deep breath and casually moved her weight to her other leg. "I have to head to London, and I can't take him. Could Jesse stay with you a while? I wouldn't usually ask, but since he and Miley are in the same…."

"Don't worry about it." Robby looked at her dreamily and smiled a bit. "Miley has no more Hannah stuff for a while plus he's already hanging out with Jackson a lot. It'd be pretty much the same."

"Thank you a lot, Robby…" Connie hugged him again. "I just might have to give you a second date for this."

"I'll be looking forward to it…" He nodded his head up and down then noticed something on stage. "Wait a second, did David Archuleta just make a move on my daughter? I'm going to have to talk to him about that!"


	2. Chapter 2

2

On a bluff overlooking the ocean not far from Malibu Point rested the Stewart beach house in a neighborhood largely dominated by palm trees and palm fronds. It was beautiful weather nearly all year round, perfect for swimming and surfing activity, yet Robby's other kid sat inside on the sunny day. Garbed in a t-shirt and shorts, his feet propped up on the coffee table, he was watching lady wrestling on the television. The women ranged from sort of attractive to tolerable, but what they missed in strength and technique, they made up for in speed and limberness. The theatrics were ridiculous, but Jackson watched fascinated. A bag of chips on one side and a bowl of popcorn on the other, he lifted his can of soda to his lips and took a sip as the match broke for commercials. With that soda depleted, he stood and creaked his legs into use to toss the can into recycling and then get another. Motioning back to his seat, he heard the rapping noise at the front door and took a side trip to answer it.

"So, Jackson," Jesse looked upon Jackson. "Where am I bunking?"

"Bunking?" Jackson looked at him and scratched his head. "Are you staying over?"

"Your dad didn't tell you?" Jesse walked into the beach house the Stewarts called home He lugged a large duffle bag with clothes over his shoulder. "My mom is heading to England to visit my grandma. She said I'd be staying with you for a few days."

"He didn't tell me about it." Jackson closed the front door and turned to Jesse.

"No!!" Miley's voice screamed from upstairs.

"But I think he just told Miley." Jackson invited his buddy to watch wrestling on the TV.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!!" Miley screamed the same word over and over as she paced back and forth in her room. Her father sat on the edge of her bed watching her pacing back and forth, squeezing her teddy bear to her chest and screaming that word over and over trying to refuse her father's proposal. She was not letting that teenage opportunist in her house!

"Miley," Robby appealed to his daughter's sensibility. "I already promised his ma. I know you don't like this boy, but you don't have any Hannah stuff coming up this week. He won't bother you."

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no…." Miley started screaming again.

"I didn't want to play it this way..." Robby stood up, stood with the posture of a father with a firm backbone and feet of concrete and faced off his daughter. "But this is my house, and if I'm going to invite company, I'm going to invite them over. I still pay the bills in this house."

"Fine!" Miley snarled her adorable face into an angry sneer. "But while he's here, I'm going on a hunger strike."

Robby looked his daughter over once then twice. She wasn't skinny, nor was she as built as other teenage girls in her age range. In fact, she had a very athletic build with little fat and a lot of good muscle tone like all Tennessee-born girls. She was a lot healthier than most girls in her school.

"That's good." Robby humored her. "Because if he eats as much as Jackson, neither of us may be getting much food around here." He tugged her along to follow him downstairs and turn toward the steps to head downstairs to the living room.

"It won't be that bad, bud." Robby continued to try and cheer her up. "He'll only be with us a week. It will be over just like that." He snapped his fingers as they reached the bottom step. They turned at the piano at the bottom to step into the living room from the landing. Miley's eyes widened as she looked up. He was here! He was in her house! He was sitting in her spot on the sofa with her brother! He was sitting in her spot with her brother watching lady's wrestling on her TV! It was like having another Jackson!

"Sweet niblets!" Miley stopped on the bottom landing and looked into the living room. "He's already here!" She looked to her father. Robby just looked to her to accept it.

"He's like the brother I always wanted!" Jackson beamed with a slight laugh and wiped away a tear of joy. He and Jesse clinked their Pepsi cans together.

"Bud…" Robby shined on his daughter. "It's only a week."

"I'm not gong to survive the day." She squeaked in her tiny tortured voice and pretended to be suffering. She heard her brother and Jesse guffawing and reacting to the ladies getting trounced and smacked on TV. They laughed together, they winced together, they… liked each other! Jackson had not had a best friend since his friend Cooper was transferred to another school. He liked having a best bud again. She was not going to be able to handle Jackson being happy much less having the bane of her secret identity in her home. She needed help. She needed…

"Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi…." Her own best friend Lily Truscott came as an answer to her prayers. Carrying her skateboard and coming up the way from the beach Lily entered in shorts and a t-shirt, her blonde locks pulled tight into two long braids. She pulled off her helmet as she entered.

"Miley," She noticed her best friend. "You just missed it. Oliver just tried doing a flip on my skateboard and sent himself head over feet. It was so funny!"

"Lily," Miley looked at her. "Would you like to stay here with me for a week?"

"Sure, why not?" Lily barely thought it over. "What's up?"

"That!" Miley pointed to the sofa. Lily looked over and saw Jackson digging lint out of his navel. Next to him, doing the exact same thing was a guy who had been at the top of her thoughts at one time. To her, he was a prince, but right now, he was just as annoying as Jackson.

"Hi Jesse…" Lily responded distantly but still in love with him.

"Hi Lily…" Jesse looked at her. "You look cool."

"Thanks." Lily responded with Miley standing by her. Robby stood in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher and watching the events unfold.

"I don't think I can take this week with Jackson Squared over here." Miley looked to Lily and pointed annoyingly at her brother and nemesis. "I need some kind of anchor to keep me from going crazy. I need you to save me from the deadhead twins over here."

"Should we consider ourselves insulted?" Jesse asked Jackson with his twinge more intelligence.

"I never do." Jackson mumbled back.

"I think you should." Robby had collected the trash from the kitchen to keep busy and headed out the back door of the house to dump it. He left the house temporarily to the teenagers filling his home as Miley and Lily watched as the female Yang to the male Yang being displayed on the sofa. Just how much they could stand watching was a riddle they had no intention of answering. As they contemplated a week together, their tense situation was interrupted by the chiming noise of Miley's pink cell phone. Lily recognized the specific chirp as Miley reacted.

"That's the Hannah line!" Lily told Miley.

"I know." Miley replied and looked to her then to her company trying to keep it a secret. How could she take a Hannah call with Jesse in the room? The phone chirped again.

"Hey, Stewart," Jesse looked over. "Could you answer that? It's a little annoying." To him, it was just a phone even if the conversation wasn't.

"Jesse, Jackson…" Miley tried to sound sweet. "Could I get some privacy? This is girl stuff."

"We don't mind." Jackson didn't look up. The phone chirped again.

"Okay, but we're going to be talking about boys and kissing and our periods and…" Miley watched as her brother and Jesse started collecting their drinks, chips, pretzels and junk food and started hurrying for the stairs. Jackson hit his toe in his rush on the first step, but Jesse was his wingman and started pushing him ahead to get away from the girl talk. There was no way they were listening to a bunch of girls talking about their biological functions.

"Works every time!" Left with her Hannah line, Miley looked to Lily with a toss of her long brown hair and pressed her cell phone to her ear. "Hello?…. Britney, hi!"

"Is that Britney Spears?" Lily started squealing under breath as Miley answered her Hannah line. She met the most interesting people with Miley when she was Hannah Montana. Miley turned away in conversation to motion to the refrigerator and pull out a bottle of water. Lily tried to listen to her half of the conversation, but Miley was moving around a lot. As she talked, she took a bottled water from the refrigerator and motioned the way back to her. Lily watched as her best friend sipped her water and clicked off her phone.

"Britney invited Hannah to a party in town." Miley turned to Lily. "We got to go."

"How are you going to sneak out as Hannah without Jesse seeing you?" Lily asked the question. Miley gritted her teeth again, her face turning angry and hostile. She looked psychotic as she turned her head upward to the room above and the sound of her brother and that idiot cheering the wrestling on Jackson's TV upstairs in his room.

"No problem." Miley lifted a knife from the counter. "I'll kill him!"


	3. Chapter 3

3

Jackson had noticed the eighteen-inch TV in his upstairs bedroom during his last cleaning effort. He rarely watched TV on it as long as he had the big screen downstairs in the main room. A little more cleaning for Jesse's sake and Jackson discovered he had a DVD player as well to play movies. This meant they could play movies upstairs as well as downstairs. Unfortunately, the route from the bedroom to the kitchen was a bit longer. The solution: move the food closer to the TV!

"I brought my DVDs from home." Jesse sipped a can of root beer between helping Jackson raid the fridge. "Have you ever seen _Night of the Demons_?"

"Uh-uh…" Jackson sounded with a pork chop held in his teeth.

"You won't believe what this girl does with a tube of lipstick." Jesse placed his hand on Jackson's shoulder. "And in the sequel, this one girl's…. Oh, you got to see it to believe it!"

"I love horror movies!" Jackson squealed out loud grabbing up a night of snacks and food to last them the night. He started stacking and piling up the things he wanted to take with him. If only he could pull the bathroom closer to his room. "I got the deviled eggs, hot pockets, hot dogs and leftover hamburgers." Jackson crowded his arms with food. "I'll run up first, and you bring the bucket of chicken, bags of chips and four bottles of soda! Got it?"

"Got it!" Jesse turned to gather up his supplies as Jackson headed up first. As he picked up the bucket of chicken from the bottom of the refrigerator, he noticed little over half of a large chocolate cake in a plastic cake container. Taking that too, he placed it over the bucket of chicken and then set it briefly on the island counter to wrap his arms around it and the sodas as he clenched his fingers around the tips of the bags of chips. He was going to do okay carrying this stuff, but as he gathered his bearings to head out, he heard sounds at the top of the stairs. He froze where he was, and tried to think of something to do. He could not let himself get busted raiding the fridge by Jackson's father! He lowered himself down behind the oven out of sight. His eyes peeked out over the range top at Lily wearing a green wig and purple dress with a lot of extra jewelry. Miley was in her Nashville-chic look with her golden blonde Hannah wig on her head as she partially checked the room. The coast looked clear to her. Jesse just watched from just out of sight. She was Hannah again! He knew it! He just knew it! Despite all their chicanery and illusions, he knew she was Hannah… and he couldn't do a thing about it!

"We're doing it!" Hannah silently cheered to Lily. They saw no sight of Jesse! "We're doing it!" She adjusted her wig again. "Come on, the limo is waiting for us at the bottom of the hill!"

"I just thought of something." Lily stopped short. "Why didn't we just change at my house?" Hannah stopped and glared back at her.

"Now you come up with an alternate plan?" Hannah snapped at her harmlessly and pushed her from the house. They started away from the house and down the driveway covered by a canopy of tree limbs for the limo. "Britney, here we come! I hear Orlando Bloom and Lindsay Lohan will be there!"

"Hello, Lindsay…" Lily started practicing her voice for meeting big celebrities and pulled the door shut behind her. Behind her, Jesse stood up straight again. Still in love with her, he followed in Lily's footsteps a few feet trying to see her off with Miley as their alter egos. He then backed up again, his fingers tensing on the tips of the bags of chips while balancing the cake on the bucket of chicken and turned in his bare feet up the stairs up to Jackson's room. As he turned the corner, he discovered Jackson busted and standing in the hall with his father.

"Oh, sweet niblets!" Robby looked at his son's partner in crime. Jesse tried to back out of sight, but instead realized he was caught and continued onward. "Did you guys leave me anything to eat down there?" Robby looked them over. Jesse and Jackson looked at each other.

"The vegetables…" Jackson answered.

"A carton of eggs." Jesse recalled. All Robby could do was shake his head. He noticed Jesse with his cake.

"Give me that back!" He took it from him. "At least you two can keep it quiet. Don't wake up Miley or Lily…"

"They left." Jesse revealed. "They went out. I heard them say something about going over to Lily's house…" He found himself covering for Miley and didn't mention anything about her dressed as Hannah to see Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan. All Robby could do was look at him like a dad.

"Fine…" He took a deep breath. "Then don't make any noise to wake **me** up. My cake and I will be downstairs."


	4. Chapter 4

4

Robby did not have a good night. First, it was the _Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman_ at his house, and then a bunch of kids in a haunted mortuary for _Night of the Demons_ and its sequel. _The Amityville Horror_ happened next followed by the _Legend of Hell House_ and then Jaime Lee Curtis screaming through _Halloween_. Just when he thought those boys had gone to sleep, the genre changed and the voices of Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi came through the wall in _Revenge of the Sith_. Just when were they going to sleep? Just what had he got himself into? When Robby finally got to sleep, Jack Nicholson was chasing him with an axe in _The Shining_ and Kate Winslet was hovering over him in a British remake of the _Fifty-Foot Woman_. He was going to have to establish some rules here. He was not going to revisit Camp Crystal Lake tonight.

"Hey, bud…" Robby kissed his daughter good morning. "Hey, Lily…" The two of them looked partied out as if they had been out all night. "I hope Siskel and Ebert didn't keep you up all night." Robby kept his sense of humor through his tired mind. Despite being up most of the night, Jackson was a few footsteps behind them.

"We missed most of it. We did a Hannah thing last night." Miley yawned tiredly and sat in her stool for breakfast. "I thought Amanda Bynes would never shut up. So, she's working with Hugh Jackman; I got it the first time she said it."

"You guys had a Hannah thing last night?" Jackson stirred his scrambled eggs and grits together. "Oh man! You are so lucky that Jesse and I were in my room all night watching horror movies. He'd have spilled your secret!" Miley and Lily looked at each other and realized how lucky they were.

"Wait a sec…" Robby handed Miley and Lily their breakfast plates and recalled a small detail. "Jesse was still down here after I noticed you guys were gone. In fact, he's the one who told me you went to Lily's!"

"Wait a minute…" Miley had a revelation as she bit into a piece of bacon. "Jesse covered for me? But that would mean…."

"He already knows you're Hannah Montana?" Lily finished that thought. She and Miley locked eyes in shock. Robby stopped from flipping an egg for Jesse. Jackson looked up with a full mouth of grits. How long had Jesse known the secret? Worst yet, just how did he find out?!

"He can't know!" Jackson swallowed the contents in his mouth. "He'd have sold it to the tabloids by now!"

"That boy would tell the Enquirer his mother was Madonna…." He got a reaction from Jackson. "Which she's not!"

"Dad," Miley was in shock. "What if he knows? What if he knows?"

"Miley, he can't know you're Hannah." Robby looked to his daughter. "We've been too careful. We went through a lot to keep him from finding out."

"But dad…"

"There has to be a logical explanation, bud…" Robby heard the toast pop up and put it in a basket in the center of the breakfast table for the kids. "Just keep doing what you're doing and…" He heard a noise and stopped talking. Jesse was sauntering tiredly himself, yawning and groaning as cracked his back into place. Wearing a white undershirt with dark blue sweatpants, he ambled his way into the breakfast nook barely awake and looked at what Miley and Lily were eating.

"Grits?" He asked with his face contorted into confusion.

"You got a problem with that?" Robby placed a plate of eggs, bacon, fried potatoes and grits to the table for the boy. Jesse looked at Jackson and mused on a night of watching movies with earthbound ghosts, paranormal serial killers and undead Transylvanian princes. Sitting down, he reached for the orange juice as Lily and Miley shared a secret look.

"You know…" Lily spoke first. "Being from Tennessee, I'd have bet you ate a lot of grits. In fact, you also know who else is from Tennessee and possibly eats a lot of grits… Hannah Montana." Her voice had the annoyed tone of a girl jilted by his lack of time with him. Jackson and Miley looked over to Jesse. Robby looked over from the stove.

"Well," Jesse poured his juice and took a sip before taking his fork. "I guess Miley would know a lot about that."

"Why would you say that?" Miley reacted to that. "Just what are you insinuating?"

"I just would have figured you to be Hannah's biggest fan." Jesse dabbed Tabasco sauce on his eggs and ketchup on his potatoes. "I saw a truckload of Hannah memorabilia in your room."

"Oh…" Miley looked at Lily. "Yes… Yes, I am… Hannah's biggest fan." She made a face over to Lily. This wasn't working.

"You could almost say she is Hannah Montana." Jackson tried to be clever and was swatted by an oven mitt by his father. "I mean… Miley tries to sing like Hannah a lot."

"Yeah," Jesse smugly tried his eggs. "I bet Miley could be a better Hannah than Hannah." He mugged a bit knowingly as he ate his breakfast. Miley and Lily looked at each other over their breakfast. It was an either way situation. He may not know the secret, but then, he could be keeping the secret a secret. To find out the truth would take some serious plotting from Miley. It would take cunning. It would take deceit. It would require the assistance of her friend, Oliver! He would have to bait and lure away Jackson in order to confront Jesse alone. After calling up the bait, Oliver would be sent into Jackson's room. It was after midnight that night, and Robby had retired that night as well. Smuggled into the house, Oliver was allowed into the house, setting the plan into motion. He entered the darkness of the room, dimly lit by blocked light from the covered-over windows and by the TV screen running images from the _Night of the Living Dead_ movie. Scooting and stepping around clothes on the floor, Oliver looked upon the twin beds to his left. Jackson was in the first, Jesse in the next one. He knelt by Jackson's bed.

"Jackson, Jackson…." Oliver whispered and poked the goof in the ribs. "Jackson…"

"What do you want, you little toad?" Jackson sleepily grumbled under breath without opening his eyes.

"I got an extra large pizza downstairs just for you." The lackey was following the planned scheme of Miley's evil plot to the letter. He had to get Jackson out of the room. "It's covered in sausage, pepperoni, ham, bacon, mushrooms, black olives, jalapenos, green peppers, seven types of cheese…"

"Jesse, wake up!" Jackson started kicking his covers off in his hurry. "We got pizza!!"

"No, no…" Oliver silenced him in the dark. "It's just for you. Why would you want to share it?"

"Good point!" Jackson raced from the darkened room with Oliver following him. Oliver turned and gave the sign that things were clear. Behind him, they left the room clear but for Jesse asleep in his bed. In the absence of Jackson, Miley and Lily strolled into the room with a personal mission back by a vendetta. Miley was in her pink sweatpants and sleeveless white shirt while Lily just wore a t-shirt and gym shorts. They came up alongside Jesse asleep in his cot, nodded at each other and dropped to stoop by his sides to muffle him if he started screaming. With Miley to his left and Lily to his right, they watched him sleeping for a few minutes then Miley flicked his left ear. Jesse's hand waved it off as if it were a mosquito. She flicked him again, and he swatted at the air again. Miley flicked him even harder and his eyes opened. Her hand clamped over his mouth and her leg swung over him so she could sit on his chest.

"Okay, you creep…" She snarled at him. She and Lily pinned him to the bed. "I want the truth and nothing but the truth!"

"Yeah!" Lily grimaced upset at him. "Why did you stop going out with me? Am I not cute enough? Are you dating Becca Weller now?"

"Lily," Miley looked at her. "Focus here…" She looked upon Jesse. "Alright, I know you know my secret. I just want to know how and how long and what you're going to do before you ruin my life, and pray I only kill you a little bit!"

"Miley!" Jesse looked up at her sitting on his chest. How could someone so little be so heavy? "I can't breath!"

"Wrong answer!" Miley reverted to being the tomboy she was in her youth who beat up the boys who lived near her. "Tell me! Tell me!" Jesse reached with his free right hand to his partially emptied duffle bag on the floor to get to the side pocket. Miley grabbed it for him, and Lily opened the pocket to a small recorder. Miley dropped the sack to take the recorder. Her finger pushed the PLAY button.

"He pulled my wig off!" Her voice came from it. It was an echo from the past, specifically a Los Angeles concert from two months prior when Jesse confronted her back stage. "He knows I'm Hannah Montana! He's the worst possible person to have figured it out. That creep's going to tell everyone in school!" Miley pressed STOP. She realized she forgot to erase his tape in the fracas that had happened that night. It was her fault.

"He taped you, Miley." Lily realized the truth. "He taped your confession!"

"Was I really that bad a guy?" Jesse sat up once Miley got off him. "I thought we were friends. You were the only other person from Nashville when I came to Malibu. You were the first person to talk to me. You fixed me up with Lily." He paused and looked at her. "Why? Why do you think of me so badly? What did I ever do to you?"

"You sold bootleg Hannah merchandise!" Miley recalled.

"What's the big deal?!" Jesse looked at Lily and back to Miley. "You came to my house as Hannah and trashed half of what I had!" He recalled his first real-life Hannah exposure and paused with an annoyed noise. "Yeah, I realized that was you!" He paused again. "Miley, I sell things so my mom doesn't have to give me an allowance. I'm not as well off as you are!"

"Why did you break up with me?" Lily's shadow confronted Jesse again.

"Because I felt unworthy of you because of Miley." Jesse confessed to her on the bed. "She made me feel like a creep. I still love you…"

"Oh, Jesse…." Lily's heart turned soft and her hand lovingly touched his chest as she leaned in to kiss him.

"Lily, focus here!!" Miley jumped to her feet and sat then back on Jackson's bed. It smelled like nachos and old gym socks. "So, you know I'm Hannah; are you going to tell anyone?"

"No…" Jesse took Lily's hands into his own. "Because then Lily would hate me too, and I couldn't live with myself after that." Upon hearing that, Lily leaned forward and kissed him flat to the lips. She leaned back feeling in love again.

"I can't believe I'm sitting on a bed kissing a guy." She giggled dreamily.

"Come on…" Miley groaned over her abated anger and harmlessly slapped Jesse to the chest and stood up. "Lets go get some of that pizza I ordered and talk before Oliver and Jackson finish them off."

"You ordered three double-meat double-cheese pizzas…." Lily was holding Jesse's hand again as she lead the way. Even she could not believe Jackson and Oliver could eat that much pizza in one sitting.

"What are you guys going to have?" Jesse wondered out loud.


	5. Chapter 5

5

A little past dawn, Miley and Lily came down from their bedroom for breakfast and noticed Robby Ray Stewart sleeping and standing up over the coffeepot. He looked as if he was making coffee and had just casually closed his eyes, but he was snoring and lightly swaying. Miley looked at Lily then gently nudged her dad.

"Dad?" She lightly woke him. "Daddy, did you get any sleep?" Miley looked at her father.

"Sleep?" Robby yawned and blinked his eyes several times. "Oh yeah, between the blood-curdling screams, ghostly laughter, exploding starships, rusty chainsaws and not to mention the undead ladies sucking the blood out of half the country, I got a little sleep." He yawned over his coffee. "How can those two watch those movies all night and still be awake and alert all day long?"

"What's your point?" Lily wondered what the problem was. Miley looked at her. Part of the time, Lily had been in Jackson's room with Jesse watching those movies. "You should have seen this one movie. In one of them, this one girl does a thing with a lipstick…"

"I don't want to hear it!" Robby ached his way tiredly over the sofa to catch his breath with Miley by his side. He didn't need to hear about those movies. Jackson and Jesse acted them out all day long. One day they were Freddie Krueger and Jason Voorhees all day long, another day Batman and the Joker and another day they acted out every scene from _Spider-Man_ verbatim. He could hear them through the ceiling, bouncing off the walls and stomping around the bathroom. As they came down the stairs, they dueled each other with two large plastic plasma swords. Jackson swung around and tried knocking Jesse's sword from his hand. Jesse made a fist, held it up and shook it at Jackson.

"Luke…" He spoke with a low guttural voice. "I am your father!"

"No!" Jackson tried screaming in shock, the crack of a smile coming from him from the fun he had experienced this week. He tried swatting away at Jesse again. Robby looked tiredly at Miley and Lily and shook his head heading over to disturb their scene.

"No, I'm his father." He took one fake light saber and then the other. "Now, Jesse, no disrespect, I know you've never had anything close to brothers and sisters before, but you guys are killing me. I haven't had any sleep in days. You've got to get out of the house so I can get some rest!"

"Dad, he's great!" Jackson had never been so alive having another guy in the house to hang out with in his home. "Jesse can sound like nearly anyone." He turned back to his buddy. "Jesse, do that one you did while we were brushing our teeth!"

"What's up, bud?" Jesse turned to Miley and sounded like Robby. "Can't you give me a chance?" Jackson and Lily started cracking up laughing. Despite the boy being nearly pitch perfect, it took Robby a second to realize who he was doing and he wasn't amused.

"Great…" Miley looked over to Lily. "Now, he's MY father." She paused. "I'm going to have nightmares for weeks!"

"I want my mullet back…" Jesse strummed a bit on one of Robby's guitars in his voice.

"I want my voice back!" Robby took his guitar from the boy. "You're not funny."

"I think he's hilarious!" Lily shined a bit as she and Jesse bonded again with each other. Robby placed his guitar back in its stand and turned for the kitchen. When he did, he noticed Oliver coming down the stairs groggily scratching his dark disturbed mane of hair and yawning himself. He stopped and stood in shorts and a t-shirt on the landing before the piano.

"Another kid?" Robby noticed him. "It's like _Lord of the Flies_ in here." He tossed up his hands tiredly. "Look, there's cereal and doughnuts in the kitchen. You guys go fend for yourselves. I'm returning to bed." He shook his head tiredly at his house filled with high school kids. Only the two he had to keep could stay, but the other three had to go back home! Jackson started heating himself waffles in the toaster, and Miley poured two bowls of cereal for herself and Lily. Beamingly romantically to Jesse, she gushed at him a little, but her allegiances were slightly diverted as she took Miley's bowl of cereal to give to Jesse. Miley looked with a snarl in her teeth to Oliver eating a doughnut by her side.

"Jesse…" Jackson was turning with his breakfast. "I was thinking. Why don't we drive out to the…" He had planned a day of exploring an old house and cemetery up the coast for real ghosts. The old deserted Vannacutt Sanitarium was an hour drive away as well as the old Harridge House over in Lauperville, but when he looked at Jesse, he was shining only for Lily to have her back in his life.

"Just forget it…" Miley told her brother. "He's stuck in Lily-Land." Oliver even looked at the two. Jesse had whispered something to Lily over their cereal, and she giggled a bit. Oliver took another doughnut and wandered by them whispering baby talk to each other.

"Dude," Oliver looked at Jesse gazing upon Lily. "Be a man. This is sickening!" Jesse giggled at him.

"Girlfriend." He referred to himself. "No girlfriend." He referred to Oliver. "Girlfriend." He referred to himself again. "No girlfriend." He referred to Oliver again. "This ain't exactly rocket science."

"He's just so cute!" Lily shined and beamed.

"You know, I was thinking." Jesse mooed over Lily over the kitchen table. "We haven't been out together in a while, and I just happened to know someone who can get us Hannah Montana tickets." He and Lily looked toward Miley eating her cereal.

"Oh, sweet niblets!" Miley rolled her eyes.

"I got a better idea." Lily had another idea. "We can hang backstage. I have a friend who can get us backstage." They turned toward Miley again.

"Sweet niblets!" Miley rolled her eyes disgustedly again. She liked it better when they were broken up!

"Of course, you'll need a disguise…" Lily lightly led Jesse to the sofa by the hand. "I am known as Lola Luvnagle, jet-set daughter of the wealthy Luvnagle family."

"Yeah," Oliver sauntered over and dropped down in the chair next to Jesse. "And I'm rapper Mike Stanley. Cool name, huh?"

"I bet you came up with that all by yourself." Jesse rolled his eyes in disbelief. "Oh, I got one. I can show up as Jesse Samms, only kid of recording agent Connie Samms!" He teased Lily a bit.

"It sounds a bit risky." Lily looked at him then to Miley now sitting behind her and back to Jesse. "I'll make something up for you." She tapped his knee and gave him a quick peck to the cheek to get herself a doughnut. There was another noise present amongst the teenage breakfast party. Miley looked up with a doughnut in her mouth and jaunted across the room over to the front entrance. The blinds were down over the door to see who it was. Licking doughnut glaze from her fingers, she unlocked the door and opened it. Outside on the stoop, Connie Samms stood in a long coat and women's business suit looking for her only child.

"Hello Miley!" She lit up at her young star.

"Mrs. Samms." Miley hugged her publicity agent and pulled the door open wider. Connie looked inside and noticed the swarm of kids taking over the kitchen. She wondered if Robby had survived. Did they have him bound and gagged somewhere, or did they eat him?

"Hi, mom…" Jesse looked over to his mother.

"Hello, darling." Connie palmed her boy's head back as she looked around. "Miley, I don't see your dad. Is he around?"

"He's upstairs resting." Jackson filled in the answer. "He's a bit exhausted."

"I can imagine." Connie looked around the room. She recognized Lily and Miley, but she was not familiar with Jackson or Oliver that much. When she looked upon her son, she realized he was a bit happier than he'd been. Furthermore, he seemed to have taken a shine to Lily. They would look upon each other and share secret smiles plus she held his hand and hung close to him as if she really liked him. That was going to make what she had to say that much more hard.

"Jesse, honey," Her voice became a bit more sympathetic. "Go get your stuff together. We got a lot of things to cover."

"What's going on?" Jesse asked. Connie tugged him out toward the patio beyond the landing and closed the door to talk to him. Lily lightly brushed her hair out of her face and motioned toward Miley. Neither of them could hear what was going on, but Jesse suddenly became very upset. They watched as he and his mother had a private word. Oliver watched as a mere by-stander and Jackson wandered through holding and eating his waffles. Lily had a mental thought that scared her. Outside, Jesse was getting upset as he raised his voice to his mother.

"I don't like this." Lily turned now to Miley for support. "This reminds me of when my mom and dad got their divorce."

"You think she's divorcing Jesse?" Oliver made a dumb comment as Miley and Lily shot him a look. Outside, he could hear mother and son arguing back and forth.

"That's the stupidest thing I ever heard." Miley chided his dumb comment.

"I mean, maybe she's…" Oliver thought out his comment again. "No, Jesse doesn't have a dad. What do you think they're arguing about?"

"That's what we're wondering about." Miley stated the facts just when things turned quiet. She looked out to the patio and noticed Jesse's mother taking the long way around the house back to her car parked out front. Jesse rolled the patio door a bit crestfallen. His spirit was a bit deflated. He looked to Lily in shock and depressed.

"Jesse…" She went to him. "What happened? What's going on?"

"My mom wants to move back to London. She's taking me with her." He heard a bit of a shocked response from his friends, even from Miley who had to admit that even she liked him a bit, but the one person the most affected was Lily. Her eyes started filling with tears. She started shaking her head. Her breath started racing out of fear. She didn't want to believe it.

"No, I won't let you go." She hugged Jesse tightly and felt her heart breaking. "It's not fair. We just got back together. We haven't had a chance to do anything!" She started crying. Her arms clung to Jesse, refusing to let him leave her life. She loved him so much. She could not let him go.

"She won't let me stay." Jesse confessed.

"Maybe my dad will let Jesse live with us." Miley offered. "I'll go ask…" She turned to the stairs.

"Think again, bud…" Robby called down the steps, and Miley turned around once more to face Lily's unhappiness.

"I got to go get my stuff." Jesse lightly caressed a tear from Lily's face. He turned and hesitantly raced up the stairs.

"I'll go help you." Lily turned and raced up to help him. "At least we'll have a few seconds more." She raced up behind him. On the bottom step, Miley lightly took a deep breath and looked to Oliver. She should be happy, but she did kind of like Jesse, fighting with him was kind of fun. Plus, he made Lily so happy, much more than any other boy she had ever known. Things were going to be different now that someone had touched her heart.

"Yikes…" Miley stepped down from the landing into the living room. "I can't believe Lily and Jesse won't be together."

"They were so happy together." Oliver replied out loud. "Do you know who else it's going to hit?"

"Who?" Miley asked. Oliver pointed over to Jackson sitting and crying on the sofa.

"It's Cooper all over again!" Jackson pined over yet another good buddy leaving his life. He tilted his head back and wailed over his close brotherly camaraderie with his would-be brother was ripped apart. "Why are you doing this to me?!" He screamed to the gods in heaven playing games with his life.


	6. Chapter 6

6

May 24, 2007 was a black day. The day Lily kissed Jesse for the last time at LAX was the hardest day of her life. She was trembling, she was crying and she was angry at the world and at Jesse's mother for taking him away. Her last picture of him was of him carrying his duffel bag up the ramp and waving back to her. Miley had snapped the photo for her. When Hanna played in Denver, Lily wasn't there behind the scenes cheering her on. When Hannah played in Dallas, Lily wasn't there either. Both times, she was at home crying her eyes out and e-mailing Jesse forty to fifty times a day. If Hannah got a concert in London, Lily was definitely going to be there. Until then, Lily was crying and lonely. She refused to go to school anymore. She felt the world was against her.

"He's been gone a week." Miley tried to comfort the inconsolable. "Please stop crying."

"Buck up and be a man." Oliver responded.

"How many more tears could possibly you have?" Miley added.

"You've just got to move on."

"You'll meet other guys."

"I'll introduce you to someone."

"How long are you going to pine for this guy?"

"He was my best friend!!!" Jackson screamed crying. All those horror movies they shared. All those term papers Jesse sold him. All the celebrity merchandise Jesse sold to him at a discount. Jesse was the younger brother he wanted, and best of all he was smart! That young con artist could get Jackson dates he wanted and cheap gasoline and auto parts through his bartering and dickering.

"He didn't cry this much when Cooper was transferred to H.G. Wells." Oliver mumbled out loud.

"Lily…" Miley motioned over to her best friend. "Please, you've got to help me!"

"Okay, okay…" Lily gave in and rolled her eyes. "Jackson, I'll share with you Jesse's e-mail."

"It won't be the same!" Jackson bawled a bit more. "Can an e-mail help you pass geometry? Can an e-mail get you free gas for your car? Can an e-mail help you get a date with Chesty Chelsea Daniels?!!" He wailed crying again.

"Jackson, please stop crying." Lily sat next to him. "Because then I'm going to start…." Her voice started wavering and she started bawling as well. She had lost a boyfriend while Jackson had lost the best bud he ever had. The two of them sounded like a stereo of somber misery.

"Great…" Oliver tossed his hands up. "Great, now they're both crying."

"Lily…" Miley tried to cheer her up. "Come on, I'll take you shopping!" She looked again. Lily was still crying. "I'll let you wear anything you want from the Hannah closet!" Still crying. "I'll buy you a car!"

"I used to ride with Jesse in a car!" Lily grabbed more Kleenex to dab her eyes, but she had to fight Jackson for the Kleenex box.

"Jesse used to help me with my car!" Jackson screamed crying just a bit louder.

"That's it!" Miley screamed. "I give up! Come on, Oliver!"

"But I don't want to wear anything from the Hannah closet…" He misunderstood. Miley tugged him a bit more for the back way to their private stretch of beach to leave Lily and Jackson alone. As Jackson sat mourning, Lily hugged him looking for solace in her grief and anguish. Her heart was breaking. What was she going to do? She was going to miss Jesse so much. The two of them sat holding each other, crying, consoling and supporting each other over their common friend, and then something happened, something weird and unexpected. Lily's lips brushed Jackson's and she grabbed him even tighter, pushing him back to the sofa. He started pushing back to keep from falling off the sofa. Their crying stopped as their breaths increased. Lily started picturing herself in Jesse's arms again, his hands pulling her closer, her lips over his, but then she opened her eyes and realized just who her lips were touching and pushed Jackson off of her body.

"What the heck was that?!" She screamed.

"I don't know, but it sure felt good." Jackson smirked excitedly. "I'm feeling better already!" He reached to smooch her again.

"This never happened!!!" Lily screamed again grossed out. "Don't you ever brush your teeth?!!!" She gagged and held her mouth to keep from vomiting then rushed up to Miley's bathroom to gargle and wash her mouth out with mouthwash, better yet, with alcohol! She also felt as if she had to wash Jackson off her and maybe burn her clothes. Alone on the sofa, Jackson sighed a bit.

"Just for the record, babe… you kissed me first!" He beamed a bit and sat back on the sofa. "I never noticed she smells like roses."

END


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